California Obamacare exchange sent out voter ballots pre-marked as ‘Democratic’

President Barack Obama smiles as he hands out Thanksgiving food at the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, Nov. 27, 2013. (REUTERS/Larry Downing)

4143875

A couple in La Mesa, California received a voter registration card from California’s Obamacare exchange already pre-marked for the Democratic Party.

The couple did not want their identities revealed but told local station 10 News that they received an envelope addressed from Covered California, the state’s exchange, with a letter and registration card from the health care marketplace. They’ve always been registered to vote Republican.

“I’m an old guy and I never would have noticed it, except I have an accountant that notices every dot and dash on a piece of paper as a wife,” the man who received the card said.

Between private coverage and Medicaid sign ups, nearly four million Californians will receive voter registration cards.

With at least one couple’s Obamacare voter registration card illegally pre-marked as Democratic, worries over tying voter registration to the Democratic health care program could gain momentum.

Sending out the voter registration cards to everyone, even those who were already registered like the couple in question, is likely to swell the ranks of Democratic voters, the Washington Post warned. Those with lower incomes who have received benefits from the health care law will be more likely to vote for their benefactors in the Democratic Party.

“It’s a waste of money because there’s an awful lot of people who are going to get this that are already registered and they don’t need to. I can see that, but I can’t see putting ‘X’ on the form before it’s given to me in a little bitty box that nobody’s really going to notice,” the man who received the incorrectly marked card said.

Covered California denied responsibility for the violation.

“We are mailing voter registration material. However, the application forms come directly from the Secretary of State’s office, with no fields pre-marked,” spokeswoman Anne Gonzales told 10 News. “The individual should contact the Secretary of State, which takes these violations of election law extremely seriously, and they will investigate, using the unique serial number.”

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.